The last bastion of real reality TV is under assault as not ethical...like what else is ethical in the show business world: Hollywood moguls, the Networks honchos, Political Campaigns, Walt Disney World executives, The UN IPCC pretenders, The WWF wrestler imitators?

Why its the one sport that dares to remain real that must be brought down a notch by the Masters of Shaming.

Many college athletes are exploited, some are exploiters. There is virtually no exploitation in the one major sport that has a minor league system. College baseball has almost no scandals. That's because they have a choice. Athletes can go to college if they're academically inclined, or go to the minors if not. Football and bball players don't have that choice.

Last I heard, about a week ago, Univ. of Fl put more money into their athletic program and eliminated the Computer Science department to save money! How is that?! I am still scratching my head over that and the department is quite large and has some good names.

Original Mike nails it. I played college ball and know a truckload of guys that did as well. Nobody feels exploited. You're doing what you truly want to do, you're getting "paid" for it in terms of a free ride and free room and board, you're having a blast doing it, and there's that ever-tantalizing prospect of a pro scout noticing your ability.

Kids working in Chinese sweatshops are being exploited. College athletes are not.

An old canard of college professors is the amount the head football coach makes per year is higher than the salaries of the President and 10 professors put together.

So what? the Football program makes money it costs plus donations that together pay all the expense and build free facilities too. And then the TV appearances of the football team causes enrollment to triple compared to schools with no football programs.

The President and the Professors like football fine. Complaining is an act to get sympathy.

Football breeds school spirit, but only so far. The jocks are gods, but it has to rankle when they get away with stuff nobody else is allowed to.

Also, a lot of kids who need to get out and do something physical every day are lucky if they do a minimal gym class. A program where everybody gets some playing time and have some fun doing it doesn't exist in most cases.

Gladwell: Well, boxing and horseracing didn't end. They have persisted, just in vastly less popular forms than before. They have gone into slow and irreversible decline. I suspect that the same will happen with football. It's going to wither as the supply of talent slowly dries up. I heard on ESPN Michael Wilbon—who is one of the most influential sports journalists in the country—say that he will not let his kids play pro football. If Wilbon won't, who will?

Wilbon makes more than $2 million a year. So his kids are like, different than other kids.

Gladwell is bright and he's done some great and interesting work. He just isn't the all that that spinelli seems to think.

College football has much to recommend it and there's much to fault with it as well. Frankly, I don't know how an honest accounting would come out, but I do know every discussion I've seen on the subject turns mostly on whether the speaker likes football.

I heard on ESPN Michael Wilbon—who is one of the most influential sports journalists in the country—say that he will not let his kids play pro football. If Wilbon won't, who will?

Oh, and I must add that Gladwell must have apparently missed the recent NFL draft where young men were scene rushing to the stage either with big smiles or tears of joy, after often being hugged by their parents and siblings.

Further, I would love to know how Wilbon plans to "not let" grown adults play a sport if they so choose.

USC, which is private, has a football program that supports all the other intercollegiate sports, including the Title IX travesties that are driving men's college sports out of existence at state schools, like UCLA which has closed crew and wrestling.

"There is virtually no exploitation in the one major sport that has a minor league system. College baseball has almost no scandals."

There is no money in college baseball. For the Division A factories, football and basketball pay for baseball and other sports.

My stepdaughter coached crew at UW. Now, she was exploited: lousy pay, terrible hours, no security, little respect except from her students. So she was exploited? She enjoyed the good parts, learned from the experience and moved on.

Nearly everyone gets exploited at one time or another. Most of us aren''t made slaves. We can choose not to participate, though at a cost. We can choose to learn and move on.

There are people in our society who are exploited and have no way out. College football players are not in this group.

Retired pro football players suffering from dementia and a variety of ortho ailments have made this issue a cottage industry. College players don't have the tenure to make claims, but they'll be coming.

Yes, just as when I received an academic scholarship and the school was able to use my scores and grades in fundraising efforts and draw other bright students. I was used.

Plus, it's not enough that unpaid interns are abused, getting a full ride to play a sport, you would probably otherwise play, and be worshipped and adored by millions is awful, I am sure. Probably only the ugly girls will date you too. Just a terrible life.

Gladwell's larger point is that if you do not proportionally get a cut of the pie, despite agreeing to the terms, you are being exploited. I guess he wrote this to correspond with May Day? Sorry, take that nonsense back to Canada, or the USSR.

I disagree w/ Gladwell and gave a concrete example of hypocrisy by ommisssion[hockey]. I think this was a dumb statement, but he is obviously, whether you like him or agree w/ him, very bright. He's brighter than myself and I'm secure enough to admit it.

The other unstated hypocrisy/insecurity by Gladwell on this topic is that he is a huge baseball fan. And, since baseball fans are insecure about how football has really become our national pasttime, that may also be a bias on his part. Sorry for being substantive and secure in my comments. I'll try to be insecure and shoot from the hip next time.

An out of the box and counterintuitive subject floated out by some former players, including Troy Aikman, a victim of concussions, is to eliminate helmets. Defensive players will think 3 times before sticking their head into a player. And, if they do, they'll be the concussion victim, not the target of the hit.

Maybe Gladwell is right. I love college football and played football in high school. On defense I played everywhere on the defensive line, finally ending up at middle linebacker. On offense I played tight end. It is a great game to play but the risk of getting serious injury is too high.

IIRC, most people don't really have the capability to properly assess risk before the age of about 25. This means that probably most of these college players are not really competently evaluating the risk vs reward of playing college football.

Big time college football is basically a professional sport except the kids are not being properly compensated while the big time college coaches are making millions of bucks per year. Why should universities field professional football teams filled with players who could not qualify academically if they did not play football?

Steve Koch, good post but let me add to the safety enhancements that have been made: better helmets and pads, no chopblocking, no hands to the head, no leading with your helmet, no blocks in the back, no clothesline or horse-collar tackles, no contact with receivers beyond 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, no hits out of bounds, and no excessive force per personal foul infractions.

So they've done a lot already. More to do, especially in regards to concussions.

As to Gladwell, maiming isn't the goal of the game. It happens occasionally, but as someone noted above, it happens lots of places. Even gymnastics. To live in the cozy, risk-free world of Gladwell...

It isn't the only goal but there is a reason so many QBs wear flak jackets (i.e. because tacklers try to knock good QBs out of the game). When you see a tackler pick up a QB and drive the QB's shoulder into the ground, the tackler is trying to separate the QB's shoulder.

Definitely coaches will game plan to hit a good opposing player as much as possible to reduce his effectiveness.

The game has changed over the years in that big hits (even at the cost of increased missed tackles) are really stressed, because big hits can cause a fumble and cause more bodily damage.

Most injuries are not intentional but the human body was not made to be repeatedly hit that hard. It is very common for ex football players to have bad knees, for example.

It is very common for coaches to encourage players to play hurt rather than recuperating their injuries fully before resuming play. Winning is everything.

Older fans that used to play football reconnect with their playing days by watching football. It is natural that we love to watch college football. We should also encourage efforts to protect those young players, even if they don't yet fully realize the need for more protection.

"It's also very common for ex-catchers. And ice skaters. And hockey golies. And..."

The discussion is about football, specifically college football. Widening the discussion to other sports reduces the focus on college football. The two most interesting questions are "why should colleges field professional football teams" and "why should we accept the tremendous number of serious injuries in college football".

Scott said:"Most people get through little league football, high school football, and college football without major injury."

Define major injury. Even if your statement is true, it doesn't mean much because it would be true if 49.9% of those players sustained major injury. So while still being a true statement, that would be a completely unacceptable situation, right? You agree that there are too many serious injuries in college football, right?

Original Mike hit it on the head first try. My son gets $29,800 per year of his tuition, books and room and board paid in return foro playing football, which he loves. Pretty damn good deal in my book.

How much would he have to be exploited by McDonalds or money lenders to get that kind of money? Football, and other sports, are a good deal for the athletes.

What is it with people that want everybody to be a pussy? You can make the argument we're all exploited by someone. It's a fair exchange of labor in my book, but some dipshit wants to rain on every parade.

What's funny is that you have no idea what me losing my cool seems like and, thus, have no basis for comparison that could see me from cool to lost cool. The comment was sardonic at worst, sarcasm at best.

Scott said:"What's funny is that you have no idea what me losing my cool seems like and, thus, have no basis for comparison that could see me from cool to lost cool. The comment was sardonic at worst, sarcasm at best."

I quoted your remark (about Herr Koch nitpicking) that was the basis for my observation. We are just discussing football in the off season, no big deal.

Many college athletes are exploited, some are exploiters. There is virtually no exploitation in the one major sport that has a minor league system. College baseball has almost no scandals. That's because they have a choice. Athletes can go to college if they're academically inclined, or go to the minors if not. Football and bball players don't have that choice.

That's just bullshit without a single reason of why your bullshit made any sense. Justify your argument. Fuck, at least state a reason instead of coming up with an unfounded conclusion.

Clearly Malcolm has never played the game and I seriously doubt he could endure 1 minute of hell week even on a high school campus, much less you. That being said, no one is forcing any single player to play the game. They play because they choose to, because they enjoy it. It's a spectator sport and for him to compare college football to the NFL is just stupid beyond words.

Methadras, Obviously you are ignorant about professional vs. college sports and incapable of understanding the basic concepts I discussed. However, the level of your ignorance tells me to not even try to educate you about minor league baseball vs. college sports. Can I offer you some cookies or a light snack while you play tic tac toe?

Steve Koch, I'll grant you the knee injuries in college football. I'll posit there are just as many in basketball, which isn't a contact sport like football.

Seriously, every other night on ESPN you hear about some big star's ACL being blown out. So knee injuries seem to occur regardless of whether one is getting hit or not. Just the normal football and basketball motions of cutting, starting/stopping quickly, and jumping do enough damage.

As someone who waited tables while playing sports at a small college (while getting an engineering degree), I don't have much sympathy for big college scholarship athletes who kind of are getting paid just to work out, practice and play while taking in some classes on the side. I agree that there are probably 10 guys on a big-name team who will go pro, but that leaves about 80 other guys on the roster who should be kissing the dean full on the lips for getting $30K+ a year to play football and get a degree.

Methadras, I was an average high school football player[2 year varsity football starter @ offensive tackle and special teams] and an all star baseball player[pitcher/3rd and 1st]. I coached baseball from little league to American Legion for 30 years. However, what I was saying is pretty basic for someone who has been walking upright for a generation or two. Have your grandkids write to me on the subject, if you've been permitted to procreate.

ndspinelli wrote: I really like Gladwell. But, if he were consistent, the Canadian Gladwell would need to include the Canadian official religion...hockey.

Lyle wrote: This guy is out of touch or not very bright.

I think Gladwell combines being bright with being gullible.

But I think he's right on this one.

The question isn't really whether or not folks want to volunteer for a high-contact, high-injury avocation. As Gladwell points out, rugby and boxing haven't gone away. The question is whether the economic incentives will stay in place to make it more than a voluntary activity.

There's also a fair amount of research that demonstrates that football doesn't make money for most schools -- even those that get on TV or make it to bowl games.

I'm a huge sports fan, but the way the NCAA has become a minor league farm system for the NFL and NBA is sickening. It's not good for the athletes and it's not good for the universities. The rules about "amateur status" that enrich coaches at the expense of unpaid students are a disgrace.

The professional farm system is one more thing baseball has right.

ndspinelli wrote College baseball has almost no scandals. That's because they have a choice. Athletes can go to college if they're academically inclined, or go to the minors if not. Football and bball players don't have that choice.

Without college football, other college sports, as we know them, would mostly vanish.

Room, board, books and tuition are tremendous benefits to all scholarship athletes. And yet, 'rewards' for risk and excellence are strictly capped.

If a someone studying music writes/sings a hit song and makes a bunch of money, is their scholarship status ended? If someone studying science or engineering wins a valuable patent, is their scholarship status revoked? If someone's a star athlete and paid for being recognized as such, is his/her scholarship status ended? You betcha'.

College athletics is the last bastion of 'amateurism'. Even the Olympics moved on.

Is there any greater example of 'spreading the wealth around' than pay equity for the all-American football player and the back-up on the women's bowling team?

Back to college football. You want to clean it up, do this:

Make all team-members meet actual requirements for admission.

Change rules in football to limit substitution. People who weigh more than 250 lbs will be obsolete overnight.

And, in all sports, college champions should be decided by playoffs. During the (shortened) regular season, teams should play in their regional leagues (save money and time demands on athletes)- is there anything more obscene than what the NCAA/BCS system has done to college football? San Diego State, Boise State and TCU in the Big East Conference??? It's a fucking tragedy.

@rcocean -- I think what Gladwell is talking about is the gradual deinstitutionalization of football over time. The number of injuries, the lawsuits related to head injuries, the generally venal and corrupt behavior of the NCAA, all will make major college football increasingly expensive and less appealing to university administrations.

It is an economic and cultural shift Gladwell is talking about, not a ban. He is being predictive not prescriptive.

The comparison to rugby and boxing is instructive. Lots of colleges have rugby club teams. Athletes who want to play rugby can play rugby.

Lots of athletes participate in boxing. But boxing does not command national audiences anymore. It's become a niche sport.

In my own opinion I suspect Gladwell's prediction will only play out on the margins -- schools not in the south and not with strong football traditions will be more likely to blink. But I do predict that the rules of the game will continue to evolve away from the smash-mouth football of our recent past (this is already happening).

Twenty years from now there may be so many rules about how to tackle without hurting someone that today's game will be as foreign to future fans as the one played in leather helmets by 155 lb. linemen is to us.

I totally agree that school spirit really does come a lot from football games. Everyone loves to go and be at the football games! It makes it so the whole school can come together and cheer for the same thing!